More precision. Less waste

Erasing boundaries in pediatric radiology

Amid the huge challenges of a progressively aging global population and growing prevalence of chronic disease, pressure is growing on all healthcare providers to deliver better clinical outcomes more efficiently, especially in the newer value-based payment models.

Talk to us about breaking boundaries

Health knows no bounds.And neither should healthcare.

Talk to us about breaking boundaries

Pediatric radiology innovations at Phoenix Children’s Hospital

Few clinical specialties are immune to these challenges, but in pediatric care the challenges are significant – healthcare systems have to deliver excellent family-centric care to children with unique healthcare needs, who often require extra time, monitoring, specialized medications1 and specially trained health care providers who have the compassion and ability to understand kids of all ages.

In the US, it is estimated that children with serious, complex chronic diseases account for only 10% of admissions, but 41% of hospital charges2.

Phoenix Children’s Hospital is the sixth-largest children’s hospital in the US, with more than 1,000 physicians. It provides world-class inpatient, outpatient, trauma, emergency and urgent care to children and families in Arizona and throughout the Southwest. As one of the largest children’s hospitals in the country, Phoenix Children’s provides care across more than 75 pediatric specialties.

Radiology: the hub of the wheel

Most services in the hospital need accurate images to be able to confidently decide on the right diagnosis and Phoenix Children’s has placed advanced technology at the center of its imaging services, positioning itself as a leader on the cutting edge of pediatric medicine. Radiology is considered the “hub of the wheel,” or the central repository that all hospital services rely on for accurate and timely diagnostic images for its patients.

There’s a range of unique considerations behind the diagnostic procedure in a children’s hospital, which ultimately affects the delivery of an accurate, safe and timely image. These can include maintaining patient safety through managing radiation dose; fast image processing and workflows; reducing motion and securing a child during the imaging procedure to capture the highest quality image; and also bringing a level of comfort to the variety of different patients the hospital serves.

We go from neonates to young infants to toddlers to school-aged all the way up to teenagers and young adults. And each of those has different sensitivities and needs. So we have design issues and challenges. We have to adapt what we do to those different age groups because their disease and problems are all different and the approaches to those problems are all different,”

Richard Towbin, M.D.

Chief of Radiology at Phoenix Children's Hospital

Leaders in pediatric radiology

Amid the range of challenges facing pediatric care providers, strategic partnerships offer new and innovative opportunities to expand imaging services and build new models of care.

About 10 years ago PCH began a long-term relationship with Philips that expanded in early 2017 to become a long-term strategic partnership. This 15-year agreement is a first-of-its-kind partnership for Philips with a stand-alone children's hospital system, and includes imaging systems, patient monitoring, clinical informatics, and a comprehensive range of clinical and business consulting services. With access to the latest in innovations from Philips, it gives Phoenix Children’s “strategic foresight” as a newer pediatric healthcare provider and supports them in delivering the highest quality patient care.

Together, Phoenix Children's and Philips co-designed and tested new dosing protocols in its imaging equipment that are child-sized and appropriate for particular age groups or a particular organ. The research and technologies on dose management using iterative CT reconstruction, and spectral multi-energy CT combined with specific pediatric CT and MRI protocols, are now standards in Philips equipment offered worldwide.

“The attitude at Phoenix Children’s is to move forward, and not to be satisfied with what we did yesterday or what we did last month,” says Dianna Bardo, Pediatric Radiologist at Phoenix Children’s. “We’re trying to achieve things for children that were really only intended for an adult.”

Phoenix Children’s goal was to use technology to provide “more breadth and depth of high-end medical services” and help to drive innovation in diagnostics. The introduction of new technologies plays a valuable role in the hospital’s ability to conduct research, supports clinical staff and creates an environment where technology motivates and drives innovation, while reducing systematic waste and inefficiency.

“The combination of our technological developments, the new innovations, and our software developments provides us with the opportunity to look at our data and become as efficient as possible for each level of our operation,” says Dr. Towbin. “We’re now able to understand anatomical relationships, make better diagnoses, and learn new information that we couldn’t previously do. Again this makes us far better as a radiology department and gives us a better chance to serve children at the highest levels.”

“A clinician may not be able to look at a 2-dimensional image and get a real, accurate idea of what a disease process looks like,” says Dr. Bardo. “Using virtual 3D imaging we are able to show details of anatomy in a more readily comprehensible manner, whether that’s in the heart, the liver, or a fractured bone.”

Using 3D technology, radiologists at Phoenix Children’s Hospital can determine a tumor’s exact size and physicians can discern subtle changes in size or shape over time and treatment. The outstanding precision of 3D imaging allows oncologists to identify the most viable course of treatment and determine whether treatments are shrinking a patient’s tumor.

“When I model that tumor or model that heart or bone into a 3-dimensional object in our 3D lab, it’s an instant picture. It’s something anybody can perceive. A patient can perceive it. [His or her] parent can perceive it – the physician that is caring for [him or her], the surgeon that may be repairing something, and the radiologists all have this understanding,” Dr. Bardo adds.

At a glancePhoenix Children's Hospital

Sixth-largest children’s hospital in the US, with more than 1,000 physicians across 75 pediatric specialties

Provides world-class inpatient, outpatient, trauma, emergency and urgent care to children and families in Arizona and throughout the Southwest

By clicking on the link, you will be leaving the official Royal Philips Healthcare ("Philips") website. Any links to third-party websites that may appear on this site are provided only for your convenience and in no way represent any affiliation or endorsement of the information provided on those linked websites. Philips makes no representations or warranties of any kind with regard to any third-party websites or the information contained therein.